Building Microbial Fuel Factories
Synthetic Genomics along with Exon Mobil have been working on genetically engineering microalgae for producing algae oil. A similar approach is being followed by a start-up company based out of Cambridge is pretty much working on the same approach.
Joule Unlimited is genetically altering photosynthetic micro organisms so that over their lifetime, they devote only 5 percent of the solar energy they absorb to growing and staying alive.
The rest goes to secreting a steady supply of diesel fuel. The company, which is building a pilot plant in Leander, TX, says its process will generate 15 to 25 times as much fuel per acre as technology for making fuels from cellulosic biomass, but that it will take several years to demonstrate at a large scale.
See more – http://www.technologyreview.in/energy/26050/
